Center plate assembly



Jan. 23, 1968 w. G. BANKES CENTER PLATE ASSEMBLY 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledOct. 6, 1965 Q ow INVENTOR Tim wwwwwm HF iv I \nj lw l l lHh im l Q h J-V\ Ill-.. T! gum: 1W -NM Q r Wi'Ziz aizz 5,34; fi'eg BY MM, 6%, w; wan

ATTORNEY? Jan. 23, 1968 w. G. BANKES CENTER PLATE AS SEMBLY 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 6, 1965 INVENTOR ATTORNEY$ 3,365,250 CENTERPLATE A%EMELY William G. Banlres, Nescopeclt, Pa, assignor to BerwickForge and Fabricating Corp, Berwiclr, Pin, a corporation of PennsylvaniaFiled st. 6, B65, Ser. No. 493,516 8 Claims. Cl. 308-136) AESTFACT 0FTHE DISCFLGSUEE A center plate for supporting a railroad car on a truckwherein an I-shaped stress-distributing network of elements both aboveand below the mounting plate is provided. The network includes parallelreinforcement bars extendirn along the underneath surface of said mounting plate and an elongated tie member extending perpendicular to saidbars on the top surface and along the center of the plate. Said bars andsaid tie member are preferably channel-shaped for improvedstrength-toweight ratio of the device. In one embodiment, the tie memberis provided with an extension to allow attachment of the spring whichcontrols the sliding center sill in a cushioned underfra-me.

The present invention relates to railroad car underframe constructionand, more particularly, to an improved construction of a center plateassembly for a railroad car cushioned underframe.

Until just recently, railroad rolling stock, including box cars andpassenger cars, were designated to carry relatively small loads comparedto the super loads that are carried today in the modern oversize cars.Thus, the underframes of these early cars and, particulary the centerplate assembly that receives the king pin of the support ng truck werenot stressed to the degree that can be expected in todays cars.Accordingly, while in the past, the center plate assembly could be andwas usually forged or cast in a single piece that included the mountingplate and the bowl-shaped bearing plate for economy, the advent of thesuper cars with the much larger loads to be carried necessitated achange in the basic design of the center plate from a totally cast orforged structure to a welded structure utilizing a rolled steel mountingplate to give the increased strength required.

Heretofore, as far as I am aware, it has been the general practice inthis field to provide little or no reinforcement of the mounting platein these welded center plate assemblies; the mounting plate being nomore than a thick steel plate to which the bearing plate is welded. Forexample, previously, in the modern cushion underframe, with which thisinvention is concerned, the only reinforcement that has been proposedcomprises no more than vertical guides placed along the center line ofthe assembly for receiving the king pin; the sliding center sill in thiscase straddling the reinforcement structure.

While these prior art welded center plate assemblies have proven to begenerally satisfactory for their intended purpose, the oversizedmounting plates that have been utilized tend to make the center plateassembly weigh much more than is necessary. This is to say that due tothe fact that little or no reinforcement is used, an oversize and thusoverweight mounting plate of very large cross section must be relied onfor strength. This overweightness of the center plate assembly can, incertain cases, amount to several hundred pounds, which represents asubstantial reduction in the amount of payload that can be carried, notto mention the loss of economy due to the increased initial cost of thecenter plate assembly resulting from the higher cost of oversize rolledsteel plates. Further, the reliance on a single member i States Patent 0for strength at this critical part in the under-frame construction hasbeen found to be undesirable since a defect in that part will mostlikely cause failure of the underframe as a result of there beingnoother substantial reinforcement members to suport and provide thestrength for the defective member.

Accordingly, it is one object of the present invention to provide animproved reinforced center plate assembly of welded construction havingincreased strength and rigidity so as to be capable of sustaining heavyloads while overcoming the disadvantages of the prior art cited above.

It is a related object of the present invention to provide a centerplate assembly with improved strength-toweight ratio by eliminatingdeadweight from the structure.

The center plate construction according to the present invention isparticularly adapted for use in a cushioned underframe having a slidingcenter sill and a transverse bolster through which the sliding sillpasses. Specifically, the inventive structure is embodied in a steelmounting plate that is adapted to be riveted or bolted to the under sideof the bolster across the opening for the sliding sill so as to providean enclosure for said sliding sill in the usual manner. According to oneimportant feature of the invention, the bearing plate, which serves toreceive the king pin of the truck and to frictionally engage the fifthwheel of the truck, is preferably cast or otherwise forged so as to havea hub portion that is adapted to extend within an enlarged centralopening in the mounting plate for improved strength and rigidity of theassembly; the bearing plate having shoulders that are welded to saidmounting plate for this purpose and for the purpose of supporting thebearing plate in its position on the mounting plate.

According to another aspect of this invention, a reinforcement means isprovided that extends generally transversely across said mounting plateon the underneath surface thereof. This reinforcement means ispreferably comprised of a parallel pair of cast or otherwise forgedchannel bars that are welded to the underneath surface of the mountingplate in such a position as to be spaced from and on opposite sides ofthe bearing plate to strengthen and rigidify the same. Further, a tiemember that preferably takes the form of a channel piece, extendsgenerally longitudinally and along the central axis of the mountingplate on the top surface thereof in such a manner that the ends of thechannel piece are disposed above at least a portion of said parallelreinforcement bars whereby to tie in the reinforcement means to thecentrally located bearing plate and thus form a stressdistributingnetwork over substantially the total area of said mounting plateconsisting of elements both above and below said mounting plate. Thisstress-distributing network gives greatly increased strength andrigidity to the center plate assembly with a minimum amount of weightand expense. Further, since the network actually encompasses themounting plate with members of great strength and rigidity, saidmounting plate can be substantially reduced in thickness over that whichwould otherwise be necessary and since the network encompasses themounting plate with reinforcing members, any weakness in the mountingplate itself will be overcome in an advantageous manner.

In another embodiment illustrated, the channel tie member that is weldedalong the top surface of the mounting plate is provided with anextension to which the return spring for the sliding sill of theunderfrarne is adapted to be attached whereby the stresses arising fromdraft and coupling forces are transmitted to this strengthened andrigidified center plate assembly. This arrangement minimizes the effectof these forces on the underframe and, in particular, eliminates theneed for an additional specially reinforced structure for receivingthese impact stresses, as in the prior art constructions.

Thus, it is another object of the present invention to provide a centerplate assembly having a stress-distributing network that encompasses themounting plate of the assembly.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a centerplate assembly of the character described having a reinforcement meanson the underneath surface of the mounting plate and a tie member on thetop surface of said mounting plate with the ends of said tie memberbeing disposed above at least a portion of said reinforcement meanswhereby to form a stress-distributing network over substantially thetotal area of said mounting plate consisting of elements both above andbelow said mounting plate.

It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a centerplate assembly having a rolled steel mounting plate with elongated castiron or otherwise forged reinforcement bars welded to the underneathsurface of said mounting plate and a tie member on the top surface totie in these reinforcement bars in a stressdistributing network.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a centerplate assembly for attachment to a bolster of a cushioned underframe ofa railroad car wherein the mounting plate is reinforced by a tie memberextending above the bearing plate of the center plate assembly and by apair of parallel reinforcement bars on the underneath surface of thesaid mounting plate, which tie member and parallel reinforcement barsform a stress-distributing network over substantially the total area ofsaid mounting plate.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a center plateassembly for use in a cushioned underframe having sufiicient strengthand rigidity to be capable of mounting the fixed end of the center sillreturn spring so that a separate stresseceiving member for this purposeis not required.

Still other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomereadily apparent to those skilled in this art from the followingdetailed description, wherein I have shown and described only thepreferred embodiment of the invention, simply by way of illustration ofthe best mode contemplated by me of carrying out my invention. As willbe realized, the invention is capable of other and differentembodiments, and its several details are capable of modification invarious obvious respects, all without departing from the invention.Accordingly, the drawings and descriptions are to be regarded asillustrative in nature, and not as restrictive.

Referring now to the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a top view of a portion of a railway car cushionedunderframe with certain parts broken away and certain parts eliminatedfor clarity;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines 2-2 of FIG. 1 showingthe improved center plate assembly of the invention;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view of the center plate assembly constructedin accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a plan view in perspective of another embodiment of the centerplate assembly of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing the attachment of sliding sillreturn spring.

With reference to the drawings for a more complete understanding of thepresent invention, there is shown in FIG. 1 a portion of a cushionunderframe to which the structure of the present invention may beapplied. As usual, the cushioned underframe 10 comprises a plurality ofstructural steel elements that are welded or riveted together to producea complete underframe. A number of t ese elements are shown in FIG. 1 toexplain the applicability of the embodied invention, and these elementsconsist of an end sill 11, a bolster 12, and numerous longitudinal floorstringers 13 extending between the various transverse members. Inaddition, the cushioned underfrarne it) has the usual slidable centersill, generally represented by the reference numeral 15, that serves toslidably mount a conventional coupler C at the free end for connectingthe car to other cars in the normal manner.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the center sill 15 takes the formof a pair of opposed, parallel channel members 16, 17 positioned uprightfor the requisite sliding movements in the longitudinal directionthrough an opening 18 in the transversely extending bolster 12. Thebolster 12 itself is, or may be, of conventional design and in theembodiment shown for illustrative purposes it is made up of a pair ofvertical webs 2% extending outwardly from the central opening 18 on bothsides of said bolster 12 (note FIG. 1). A top connector piece 21 iswelded to the upper edges of the web 2d and extends the full width ofthe car to side sills 22, 23. Similarly, the bottom edges of the webs 2dare welded to bottom connector plates 24, 2-5 which extend outwardly tothe end plates 26, 27, respectively, as illustrated in FIG. 2. Disposedabove the inner end of the vertical webs Zll is a suitable tension plate28 that is welded in place to give strength to the bolster 12 along thetop portion thereof and serves to form the upper limit of the opening18.

To proceed with the specific description of the center plate assemblyconstructed in accordance with the present invention, reference is madespecifically to FIGS. 2 and 3 of the drawings wherein is disclosed acenter plate assembly 39 that includes a mounting plate 31, preferablyof rolled steel, and a bearing plate 32 that is welded to theundernearth surface of said mounting plate 31.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention and as bestillustrated in FIGS. 2 and 4, the central bearing plate 32 is a cast orotherwise forged element with an upwardly extending central portionforming a hub 33 that has a central aperture 345 for receiving the kingpin of the supporting truck (not shown). The central portion of themounting plate 31 is advantageously cut away to form an opening 35through which the hub 33 extends; a peripheral shoulder 36 providing thecentral support for the hub 33 on the underneath surface of the mountingplate 31. In practice, a welded joint is provided between the hubportion 33 and the inner face of the aperture 35 which is of particularadvantage in insuring that the bearing plate 32 is securely fastened tothe underneath surface of the mounting plate 31. Also, it is clear thatsince the aperture 34 is thus made coplanar with the mounting plate 31,the stresses caused by the king pin of the supporting truck acting inresponse to draft and coupling forces are desirably concentrated alongthe plane of the mounting plate 31 for dissipation at rivets 37 thatserve to mount the center plate assembly 30 to the bolster 12.

Of course, the prevalent stresses that are present in the center plateassembly are caused by the vertical shear forces resulting from theweight of the car being concentrated at the bearing plate 32. Accordingto the present invention in contrast to the prior art structures ofwhich I am aware, these stresses are not concentrated almost entirely inthe central region of the mounting plate 31 but are advantageouslydistributed over a substantially larger area of said mounting plate 31.

For this purpose of distributing the shear stresses to the portions ofthe mounting plate 321 remote from the central bearing plate 32, thereis provided a channelshaped tie member 40 extending along the topsurface of the mounting plate 31 generally along the center line of therailroad car (note FIG. 1). The channel tie member 4i includes a pair ofvertical legs 41 with a connecting cross-web 4-2, said vertical legs 41being welded to the top surface of the mounting plate and the cross-webhaving a centrally located aperture 43 for receiving the king pin of thesupporting truck. Thus, it can be seen that the mounting plate 31 isrigidified along its central axis and since said mounting plate 31overlies the bearing plate 32 the same is effective to tie in thecritical stress-receiving areas of said mounting plate 31 around thebearing plate 32 with the remote portions along said central axis.

As best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, there is provided on the underneathsurface of the mounting plate 31 a pair of elongated reinforcement barmembers 45 that extend transversely of the central axis of the mountingplate 31 and underlie the ends of the central tie member 40 to form incombination with said tie member 40 a stressdistributing network shapedin the form of an I that is effective to extend the vertical shearforces previously described over substantially the total unriveted area(see FIG. 3) of said mounting plate 31. This is true since the barmembers 45 are separate from the bearing plate 32 and are disposedadjacent the outer edges of the mounting plate 31 where the ends of thechannel member 40 overlie the same. With this arrangement it is thusapparent that the stresses on the bearing plate 32 are thus effectiveiydistributed and the advantages of separate reinforcing members for themounting plate 31 can be fully realized.

With this arrangement of parts, it has been found that the strength ofthe center plate assembly is greatly enhanced in proportion to thatwhich might be expected. This has been found to be a result of the factthat the cast reinforcement bars 45 are capable of resisting the greatshear and compressive forces in concert with each other since the tiemember 49 effectively couples them with the stress-receiving bearingplate 32, as can be seen in FIG. 3. And because of this improvedinteraction of elements, the over-all weight of the structure that isrequired in a given case is substantially reduced thereby iving theimproved strength to weight ratio that is desirable.

As can be seen in FIG. 4, the bar members 45 are preferably of hollowconstruction for an additional saving of weight in accordance with thepresent invention. Each bar member 45 is closed at its ends by outwardlysloping walls 46 (see FIG. 2) that extend from the crossweb of the barmember 45 to the plane of the underneath surface of the mounting plate31 so that a strong welded joint can be effected around the fullperiphery of each of the bar members 45.

Optionally, to add additional strength to the mounting plate 31, thereis contemplated a pair of stiffener plates 48 that extend parallel tothe central channel tie member 4!) and are welded along their lower edgeto the top surface of the mounting plate 31. As can be seen in FIG. 3,these stiffener plates 48 in effect connect the ends of the bar members45 to add further strength to the center plate assembly by extending thestress-distributing network to he portion of the mounting plate 31located between the bearing plate 32 and the side riveted area of thecenter plate assembly 39.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, wherelike reference numerals refer to comparable elements of the embodimentillustrated in FIGS. 14, the central channel tie member 49 comprises thepair of vertical legs 41 that are connected by the horizontal crossweb42 having the king pin-receiving hole 43 therein. Unlike the embodimentof FIGS. 1-4, there is provided an extension, generally represented bythe reference numeral 50, that extends out over the edge of the mountingplate 31 for the purpose of providing suitable means to which a returnspring 51 of the sliding sill (see FIG. 6) is attached whereby the draftand coupling impact forces can be transmitted to the structurallyreinforced center plate assembly 3%) that has been described.

To provide a suitable strengthening of the central channel tie member 40to receive these increased forces, the vertical legs 41 are extendedupwardly forming the extension 50 of the channel tie member 419 and anadditional shorter crossweb 52 is supplied. The crosswebs 42, 52 havealigned slots 53, 54, respectively, in which a suitable pin 55 isadapted to be positioned to hold a spring end cap 56 in position betweensaid crosswebs 42, 52 to thus effect the fixed connection of said spring51 to the underframe 10. As shown in FIG. 6, the traveling end of thespring 51 is or may be conveniently connected to a crosspiece 57whereupon the cushioned sliding movement indicated by the arrow 58 ispossible.

The most pertinent advantage of this embodiment lies in the fact thatthe drafting and cushioning impact forces are thus distributed directlyto the Stressdistributing network of the mounting plate 31 so that theyare advantageously dissipated in a desirable manner without additionalstrengthing of the other portions of the underframe as has heretoforebeen the practice. in other words, in this embodiment of the invention,the stress-distributing network serves the dual function of minimizingthe resulting stresses not only from the engagement of the supportingtruck but also from the impacts created on the sliding sill 15 of thecushioned underframe it The structure of the center plate assembly 30 asdescribed and as constructed in accordance with the present inventionhas proven to be capable of easily withstanding the great stresses whichare concentrated in the center plate area of the railroad car underframethrough the use of a stress-distributing network consisting of elementsboth above and below the mounting plate 3}. of the center plate assembly3%). This strengthening of the center plate assembly 30 has beenaccomplished in the present invention with the additional advantage ofreducing the over-all weight thereof by using the combination of rolledsteel and cast or forged elements described. In addition to itsincreased strength and decreased weight, the combination is capable ofbeing easily and inexpensively fabricated due to the relative simplicityof the design of the mounting plate 31 and the weldedstress-distributing network. For example, the mounting plate 31 isdesigned to be sufficiently workable so that it can be easily given apair of longitudinal bends along the sides thereof whereby the plateassembly 30 conforms to the configuration of the underside of thebolster 12, which bends, incidentally, give said assembly 39 increasedstrength along the axis parallel thereto. Then, after the bearing plate32 and the reinforcement bars 45 have been welded in place on theunderside of the mounting plate 31, the tie member 41 is likewise weldedin place on the top surface thereof to complete the structure.

In this disclosure, there is shown and described only the preferredembodiment of the invention, but, as aforementioned, it is to beunderstood that the inevntion is capable of various changes ormodifications within the scope of the inventive concept as expressed bythe accompanying claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A center plate assembly for attachment to a bolster of a railroad carunderframe, said assembly being adapted to receive the king pin of thesupporting truck comprising a mounting plate having a centrally locatedopening, a centrally located bearing plate having a central apertureconcentric with said opening for receiving said king pin, said bearingplate being fastened to the underneath surface of said mounting plate, apair of parallel reinforcement bars extending along at least twoopposite sides of said bearing plate on the underneath surface of saidmounting plate, said reinforcement bars being separate and spacedradially outwardly from said bearing plate, an elongated tie membermounted along the center on the top surface of said mounting plate, saidelongated tie member extending perpendicular to said reinforcement barsand above said bearing plate, said elongated tie member beingchannel-shaped and having a pair of depending legs fixedly attached tosaid top surface, said pair of legs being symmetrically disposed onopposite sides of said central opening to receive said king pintherebetween, a crossweb bet-ween said legs extending in spacedrelationship to said top surface and having an aperture concentric withsaid opening for receiving said king pin, and the ends of said elongatedtie member being disposed above adjacent portions of said reinforcementbars on said opposite sides of said bearing plate, whereby an l-shapedstress-distributing network is formed on said mounting plate consistingof elements both above and below said mounting plate.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said pair of bars are hollow, eachbar having a pair of legs engaging said underneath surface and acrossweb in spaced relationship to said underneath surface, each barbeing closed at the ends by outwardly sloping end walls that extend fromsaid crossweb to engagement with said underneath surface.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein is further included a pair ofparallel non-load bearing stiffener plates extending parallel to saidtie member on said top surface, said stitfener plates being spaced fromsaid tie member and disposed above the adjacent ends of said bars so asto form an additional part of said stress-distributing network.

4. A center plate assembly for attachment to a bolster of a railroad carcushioned underframe having a sliding center sill, said assembly beingadapted to receive the king pin of the supporting truck and to mount thereturn spring of said sliding sill, comprising a mounting plate having acentrally located opening, a centrally located bearing plate having acentral aperture concentric with said opening for receiving said kingpin, said bearing plate being fastened to the underneath surface of saidmounting plate, a pair of parallel reinforcement bars extending along atleast two opposite sides of said bearing plate on the underneath surfaceof said mounting plate, said reinforcement bars being separate andspaced radially outwardly from said bearing plate, an elongated tiemember mounted along the center on the top surface of said mountingplate, said elongated tie member being disposed above said bearing plateand extending perpendicular to said reinforcement bars, and the end ofsaid elongated tie member being disposed above adjacent portions of saidreinforcement bars on said opposite sides of said bearing plate, wherebyan I-shaped stress-distributing network is formed on said mounting plateconsisting of elements both above and below said mounting plate, saidtie member having an extension for strengthening the same at one end,and means on said one end of said tie member for attachment of the fixedend of said spring whereby impact forces rom said sliding sill aretransferred to said I-shaped network.

5. The combination of claim 4 wherein said elongated tie member ischannel-shaped and has a pair of depending legs fixedly attached to saidtop surface, said pair of legs being symmetrically disposed on oppositesides of said central opening to receive said king pin therebetween, acrossweb between said legs extending in spaced relationship to said topsurface and having an aperture concentric with said opening forreceiving said king pin, and an additional crossweb parallel to saidfirst mentioned crossweb at said one end for further strengthening thesame, said attaching means being connected to said crosswebs.

6. A center plate assembly for attachment to a bolster of a railroad carunderframe along the longitudinal centerline thereof, said assemblybeing adapted to receive the king pin of the supporting truck comprisinga mounting plate having a centrally located opening, a bearing platehaving a central aperture concentric with said opening for receivingsaid king pin, said bearing plate being fastened to the underneathsurface of said mounting plate, first and second parallel reinforcementbar members extending transversely across said mounting plate on theunderneath surface thereof, said first and second members being spacedradially outwardly from said bearing plate adjacent the end edges ofsaid mounting plate, and a third reinforcement tie member extendinglongitudinally the full length of said mounting plate on the top surfacethereof substantially along said center line of said underframe, theends of said third member being disposed above the central portion ofsaid first and second members whereby to form an I-shapedstress-distributing network over substantially the total area of saidbearing plate consisting of elements both above and below said mountingplate.

7. The combination of claim 6 wherein said third member includes achannel piece having a pair of depending legs fixedly attached to saidtop surface, said pair of legs being symmetrically disposed on oppositesides of said central opening to receive said king pin therebetween, anda crossweb between said legs extending in spaced relationship to saidtop surface, said crossweb having a central aperture adapted to receivesaid king pin.

8. The combination of claim 7 wherein said first and second members eachinclude a channel bar, each bar having a pair of legs engaging saidunderneath surface and a crossweb in spaced relationship to saidunderneath surface, each bar being closed at the ends by outwardlysloping end walls that extend from said crossweb to engagement with saidunderneath surface.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 830,807 9/1906 Stevenson -2261,021,164 3/1912 Rohlfing 105-226 2,078,176 4/1937 Hartwig 308-1372,161,915 6/1939 Duryea 105-226 2,772,640 12/1956 Nystrom 105-1992,919,660 1/1960 Fillion 105-226 2,965,045 12/1960 Shafer 105-199 MARTINP. SCHWADRON, Primary Examiner.

ROBERT A. DUA, Examiner.

